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3.12 AVERAGE
3.12 AVERAGE
Original review - in French - on my blog : http://moncoinlecture.over-blog.com/article-becoming-jane-eyre-quand-j-etais-jane-eyre-sheila-kohler-98206524.html
Disclaimer: I am a HUGE Jane Eyre fan. My mother and I read it together, we loved it. Mom spent lots of time in Haworth,England at the church, the graveyard, the museums. We love Jane.
This book was a wonderful treat. 'What if...' fiction always intrigues me, and this has the added advantage of being based on the facts of the Brontes' lives. From Charlotte's accompanying her father for surgery to her sad, premature death, we are allowed into the minds of the remarkable women who hid their identity from the world, and all published books that are still important today.
I knew the bare-bones of the stories of Jane and Cathy and Agnes Grey, but Kohler adds such lovely tidbits...and such sad characterizations of the men in their lives.
Dreams, conflicts, rivalries...they're all here. Support that only sisters can give, and meanness only sisters can dish.
The narrative was quite complicated, slipping in and out of present tense, in the limited POV of everyone in the family except Branwell, and even slipping into future at the end. This gave such a reflective feel to the story. One reviewer complained that there was little action...of course! There was almost no action in the lives of these amazing young women. The action was locked in their imaginations...they had the ability to take their quiet lives and create, invent, deep lives and characters who still resonate.
What sad, sad lives they led...losing mother, sisters, brother...losing loved ones. Charlotte outlived all her siblings, and died just as she was about to become a mother herself.
There were passages that brought me to tears, because I knew my mother would have nodded in recognition. She once told me of sitting in the church, looking out at the moors, and suddenly understanding where the sisters' dark, brooding, complicated stories came from.
My mother would have loved this book...I love it for the both of us.
This book was a wonderful treat. 'What if...' fiction always intrigues me, and this has the added advantage of being based on the facts of the Brontes' lives. From Charlotte's accompanying her father for surgery to her sad, premature death, we are allowed into the minds of the remarkable women who hid their identity from the world, and all published books that are still important today.
I knew the bare-bones of the stories of Jane and Cathy and Agnes Grey, but Kohler adds such lovely tidbits...and such sad characterizations of the men in their lives.
Dreams, conflicts, rivalries...they're all here. Support that only sisters can give, and meanness only sisters can dish.
The narrative was quite complicated, slipping in and out of present tense, in the limited POV of everyone in the family except Branwell, and even slipping into future at the end. This gave such a reflective feel to the story. One reviewer complained that there was little action...of course! There was almost no action in the lives of these amazing young women. The action was locked in their imaginations...they had the ability to take their quiet lives and create, invent, deep lives and characters who still resonate.
What sad, sad lives they led...losing mother, sisters, brother...losing loved ones. Charlotte outlived all her siblings, and died just as she was about to become a mother herself.
There were passages that brought me to tears, because I knew my mother would have nodded in recognition. She once told me of sitting in the church, looking out at the moors, and suddenly understanding where the sisters' dark, brooding, complicated stories came from.
My mother would have loved this book...I love it for the both of us.
A really interesting fictional account of how Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre. My only criticism, it was a bit short.
this was quiet lovely.
but i felt a bit long winded interestingly enough since it only has 220 pages to begin with!
i loved charlottes perspectives, learning how she might have written jane eyre and what er life was like during that time.
the writing was also well done, fitting for what was told on most aspects.
but is ain’t see the need for the pov switch to a nurse for charlottes father, charlottes father or emily’s. there was no need for both of them to basically say that charlotte was seen in one way but light actually be someone else entirely different from her plain looks. it was already describe at least a handful of times during charlottes own side!
they didn’t bring anything to he story itself.
i also could have done without the description of the nurse masturbation while praying, or a description of how charlottes father forced her mother to have sex when ever he felt like it never considered her at all!
was it necessary to put that kn this book in way more detail and description than what i just used?
the answer is no by he way.
overall it’s a great book to read if you want a little widow into the life of the bronte’s and what might have inspired charlotte to write her much loved novel.
it’s a good book, just sadly not as great was i wished it would have been for me personally. but that could always be my current reading mood instead of the book itself.
but i felt a bit long winded interestingly enough since it only has 220 pages to begin with!
i loved charlottes perspectives, learning how she might have written jane eyre and what er life was like during that time.
the writing was also well done, fitting for what was told on most aspects.
but is ain’t see the need for the pov switch to a nurse for charlottes father, charlottes father or emily’s. there was no need for both of them to basically say that charlotte was seen in one way but light actually be someone else entirely different from her plain looks. it was already describe at least a handful of times during charlottes own side!
they didn’t bring anything to he story itself.
i also could have done without the description of the nurse masturbation while praying, or a description of how charlottes father forced her mother to have sex when ever he felt like it never considered her at all!
was it necessary to put that kn this book in way more detail and description than what i just used?
the answer is no by he way.
overall it’s a great book to read if you want a little widow into the life of the bronte’s and what might have inspired charlotte to write her much loved novel.
it’s a good book, just sadly not as great was i wished it would have been for me personally. but that could always be my current reading mood instead of the book itself.
I might have been more inclined to give this fictionalized account of Charlotte Bronte's life more credit if Kohler hadn't told, rather than shown, the entire novel. "She did this," "He did that"--for the entire book! And last time I checked, first person dialogue isn't a crime. And the most dramatically ripe events of C. Bronte's life--the death of siblings, her engagement, and marriage--are all dismissed in two short paragraphs. Highly disappointing.
I made it to only page 35 of this book before giving up. The writing was awkward, the characters felt one-dimensional and drab, and the story was depressing and dull. I gave up disappointed, and am moving on to the next book on my list.
This was an interesting little novel. It explores what might have been going on as Charlotte Bronte writes Jane Eyre, gets it published, and deals with the aftermath of fame and notoriety. The prose is spare and flits between different perspectives all in a third person that should feel close but remains distant. I enjoyed it and found the style intriguing, but it's not something I would return to.
Fictional story that describes the life of Charlotte Brontë during the creation and publication of Jane Eyre.
+ Draws parallels between Charlotte Brontë and the character Jane Eyre and thereby emphasizes the autobiographical elements in the novel Jane Eyre, which added to my reading of Jane Eyre
- Childish, overly dramatic writing style. Flat characters that are reduced to one trait (The disapproving father, the addicted brother, the dependent youngest sister etc)
I probably do not care enough about Charlotte Brontë or Jane Eyre to truly enjoy this book.
+ Draws parallels between Charlotte Brontë and the character Jane Eyre and thereby emphasizes the autobiographical elements in the novel Jane Eyre, which added to my reading of Jane Eyre
- Childish, overly dramatic writing style. Flat characters that are reduced to one trait (The disapproving father, the addicted brother, the dependent youngest sister etc)
I probably do not care enough about Charlotte Brontë or Jane Eyre to truly enjoy this book.
2.5
I really enjoyed the tone of this novel and felt that the author perfectly emulated the Brontes' writing style. I would have liked a stronger narrative structure, and maybe fewer narrators.
I really enjoyed the tone of this novel and felt that the author perfectly emulated the Brontes' writing style. I would have liked a stronger narrative structure, and maybe fewer narrators.
Fantastic. Enjoying it so much that I don't even want to recommend it to people, for fear they will find it not as engaging. Wondering how much my own knowledge and obsession of the family contributes to my enjoyment...